Jake Stewart takes first victory for IPT in Dunkerque finale
Jake Stewart took his first win in IPT colors on Sunday as he produced a dominant sprint to take the final stage of the 4 Jours de Dunkerque.
After placing second in Friday’s pavé stage, Stewart outlined his finishing speed once again in the port city of Dunkerque, as he comfortably beat Alberto Dainese (TUD) and Thibaud Gruel (GFD) to the line.
Stewart, who is now in his second season with IPT, last enjoyed a race victory at the Tour de l’Ain in July 2023. Coincidentally, all three of his pro wins to date have come in France.
“It feels like a long time coming – I’ve been close, but I’ve never managed to get the job done,” says the 25-year-old British rider. “In this new role I’ve got in the lead-out, it’s not often I get the opportunity to sprint for a win, so when you get one you want to take it with both hands.”
IPT’s time in Northern France has seen both great highs and some unfortunate lows. Pascal Ackermann kickstarted the week by winning the one-day Classique Dunkerque on Tuesday, before Stewart placed ninth and second in stages 2 and 3 of the 4 Jours race as he builds towards the Tour de France.
Ackermann sadly crashed out early on in today’s stage, which looked perfectly suited to the German’s capabilities, after teammate Riley Sheehan had to abandon yesterday’s stage after a fall. Pier-André Côte also left the race today as the result of a crash on Saturday.
Acknowledging the work of his teammates in Sunday’s final stage, Stewart adds: “It has been quite a tough couple of days with the crashes we had, and we really had to rally ourselves during the stage after Ackie went down.
“It got a bit messy coming into the finish, but we know this finish as we raced it last year. We ended up being short on guys last year, and with the riders we were missing today, we knew we had to make our move a bit later than normal.
“We used Schwarzi [Michael Schwarzmann] and his racecraft to move us up, and then [Matîs] Louvel pulled a big turn. G [Guillaume Boivin] and I got boxed in a bit coming into the final kilometer, but we managed to wriggle our way out of that. Coming out of the last corner I told him to commit to the line. I knew I was in a good position and I backed my legs.
“I knew from the sprint on Friday that I had the speed. I kicked and saw that I had a gap when I looked under my legs, so it was all about taking it to the line. It’s always a nice feeling when you win with clean air, and you don’t have to worry about nailing a bike throw!”
Photos: Marie Van Ingelgem
